Lara D. Elliott - Inspirations

After frustrating feedback for one novel, and frustrating indecision with another, I decided it was time for a break. I dug out my one completed picture book manuscript and started asking around for critique swaps. I found a wonderful group of writer-moms to swap with and wow was their feedback amazing. One in particular gave me ideas on how to better structure my piece to conform to standard storytelling format. How could I ever have thought my book was good enough before? This was exactly what the story needed! Now I've rewritten the book and continue to finish the last little bit of tweaks it needs along with the query. Big problem. It seems most agents want an author that has more than one 500 word picture book up their sleeve. Makes good business sense. But I only had one. Cue the disappointment. But maybe I could write more. I actually had started another manuscript. But that one is probably trash. I'm just not feeling it. So that means I need to write more. Picture...

I am an “Author Mentor Match” hopeful, and this is a post all about me. For those of you who don’t know about AMM, it’s a little like pitchwars mentorship without the war. So this bio post is going to be a bit like #pimpmybio. If I seem interesting enough, feel free to post a comment and we can be internet buddies! First and foremost, I am a wife and mommy. I have been with my husband for a wonderful nineteen years. We have 2.5 beautiful children (baby girl due this July) who are my constant joy (and stress. Can’t forget about the stress). We live in a suburban/rural part of West Virginia close to DC. (And yes, the timing works out that I was newly pregnant for all of NaNoWriMo, so you can guess how hard that was.) For my day job, I’m a high school band director. I spend my summers and falls with my marching band doing the band camp thing and performing under the Friday night lights. My winters and springs are full of taking my jazz band and concert band out to festivals. ...

I've been struggling for a while with my position in the writing world. When I first started writing novels, I found a contest run by a Christian writers organization. The fee to enter was cheaper for members, and it seemed like there were other benefits of membership, so I joined. I didn't place in the competition, but I learned a lot. I wrote my second novel for NaNoWriMo and then found critique groups in the Christian writers organization. The feedback on my work was both positive and constructive. I enjoyed swapping and giving my feedback to others on their work. Not only did I get to read other stories, but I practiced looking critically at what I was reading and saw ways to improve my own writing. But then we get to chapter eight. Spoiler alert: the main character has sex. Actually, that happened in chapter seven. I put a note in the email where I submitted the chapter for critique, warning potential readers that there was slightly sensitive material. Now, it didn...

Good job! You're awesome! You get a gold star! Display it on the fridge. A plus! Honor roll! Top of the class! Graduate with honors. Get to work. Be on time. Repeat tomorrow. Here's your paycheck. I do a good job Day in, day out With no recognition. Where's my gold star? This piece was written at 3:00 in the morning, after a couple hours of sleeplessness, stress, and tears. The problem with caring too much about grades and praise from teachers is that you don't get that in real life. I get appreciated in thank you cards from my students. But I'm in a position that doesn't make it easy to receive any professional accolades. Many of my friends in the same field as me have earned professional accolades. Their position makes it possible and they've done a great job. I just wish that doing a good job in my position could get some recognition too every once in a while. Like this poem? You might like this other poem about the struggles of wo...

Writers have often been warned not to let their writing turn into purple prose. Language that's so flowery and ornamented that the meaning is lost. It is the written equivalent to acting's melodramatic. However, writers still are praised for prose that is poetic without going to this extreme. Many of the writers I follow on Twitter like to post their best lines using whatever hashtag is appropriate for the day. They often pick their most poetic. The most metaphorical. The prose that paints the most extravagant picture. I love poetry. When I was younger, poetry was my writing outlet. The dream of writing a novel was too distant, too huge a mountain to climb. But poetry was a way to be creative. To play with words. Fitting text into a meter and a rhyme scheme was like a logic puzzle that I enjoyed solving. But when I became a novelist, somehow my love of poetry didn't cross over. A year ago, I was depressed about the prose in my novels. I wasn't even close to purple...

In a book I'm reading, the characters mention the God moments in their life. Little ways that God has shown himself. I've mentioned several of my moments in previous posts. Here's another. Yesterday, on the way home from work, the Christian radio station I usually listen to was playing the same song yet again. I just wasn't in the mood. I flipped to the other Christian radio station on my presets and they were also playing something I didn't want to listen to. I have Christian CDs in my car and I just wasn't in the mood to listen to those same songs again. I changed the station to pop music. I used to listen to it a lot. I used to sing along to the worldly songs (leaving out the bad words cause I've always been a goody two shoes). I used to laugh at the DJs and their inappropriate jokes. The first pop song I heard yesterday was really good. A slow duet about love. The next one was awful. Dirty lyrics and not even a good beat or melody. The next one ...

I firmly believe that God called me to be a writer. He has made it clear time and again that I must write and I must tell the story He has given me. And yet I question Him. Why would God tell me to write a book, but not give me the talent to do it well? Why would God choose me when He could have chosen someone far more qualified to tell His story? I am reminded of the movie Amadeus wherein the composer Salieri constantly compares himself to the genius of Mozart. God gave Salieri the desire to be a composer, but did not give him the talent that Mozart had. Salieri had a good career, but never achieved the greatness of Mozart. So why did God give me the task to write but not the talent? Well, maybe He did. God gave me the task to be a writer. It is my calling. But God never told me I would be an overnight success. Writing is a long process. Getting good at writing is a longer process. Maybe I'm in the exact place God intended me to be at this moment. Maybe I'm not done ...